An electrical consumer may be controlled with the aid of a half-bridge, which includes a first switching device for connecting the consumer to a positive potential and a second switching device for connecting the consumer to a negative potential. A second terminal of the consumer is usually at a predetermined potential, in particular ground, or may be controlled in a corresponding manner but with reverse polarity with the aid of an additional half-bridge. Some consumers, for example, brushless d.c. motors or polyphase three-phase a.c. motors, may require additional half-bridges.
A control device is configured to always activate only one of the two switching devices to connect the consumer to the particular desired potential. For example, latency times between activating one of the switching devices and enabling a current flow through the switching device may vary due to manufacturing tolerances or temperature influences on the switching devices. The potential averaged over time and supplied to the consumer through the half-bridge may therefore deviate from a predetermined potential. In other words, a current through the consumer may have a predetermined offset. In particular when the consumer includes an inductive or capacitive consumer, this shift may result in increased losses and increased stresses on the switching devices or on the electrical consumer.
The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a control for an electrical consumer, which allows improved control of the half-bridge. The present invention achieves this object with the aid of a control.